


Living Arrangements

by HPFanGirl99



Series: Of the Blood [5]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics), The Demon (DCU Comics)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-14 03:55:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29786091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HPFanGirl99/pseuds/HPFanGirl99
Summary: Jason makes a shocking discovery about one of his enemies, forcing him to make a hard choice as to what he should do with his newfound knowledge. Meanwhile, everyone else is worried that Jason’s finally lost his marbles when they find out what he’s considering doing.
Series: Of the Blood [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1976023
Kudos: 5





	Living Arrangements

Zatanna frowned at the sight of Jason Blood in the Hall of Justice. The Justice League meeting had been finished for at least 30 minutes now, but he hadn’t gotten up from his spot. She’d noticed that he’d been writing on a piece of paper during the meeting and inaudibly muttering to himself. However, she hadn’t thought much of it until now. He was _still_ engrossed in whatever he was jotting down, so clearly, he hadn’t been taking down minutes. Knowing how single-mindedly Jason tended to get when focused on a task, he probably hadn’t even _realized_ that the meeting was finished.

Zee had to fight back the urge to try to sneak a peek at the paper, curious about what had captured his attention so thoroughly. But she knew that wasn’t a good idea, given how secretive and closed-off Jason normally was. Invading his privacy definitely wouldn’t encourage him to open up to her, it would most likely do the opposite. No, she’d have to approach this from a different angle.

She casually sat down in the seat directly opposite Jason, resting her heels up on the table and leaning back in the chair. Knowing this was most likely going to take a while, she needed something to occupy her time while patiently waiting. Pursing her lips in thought, she summoned the latest romance novel she was in the middle of reading, before cracking it open to where she’d last left off.

“Jason,” she quietly called out. Jason didn’t even pause in his writing. “Jason,” she said more forcefully, raising her voice. Damn, Jason must be really lost in his mind if he still didn’t hear her. “Jason Blood!” she almost yelled out to no avail.

Zee had to repress a grin as a thought came to mind. She levitated a nearby pencil, before having it slowly float over to Jason and gently poke his cheek. She giggled when Jason didn’t even twitch, not even seeming to notice it. She made the pencil repeatedly poke his face until Jason finally looked up.

“What?” Jason dangerously growled out.

“The meeting’s been over for a while,” Zee calmly stated, unaffected by his anger.

Jason stared at her in confusion, before looking about the room. “Oh,” he mumbled to himself, seeming genuinely surprised.

“Whatcha doing?” Zee lightly asked, despite knowing she wouldn’t get an answer, at least not right away.

Immediately, hostile blue eyes searched her face, clearly trying to figure out her intentions. “Thinking,” he snapped out irritably, something suspicious swimming around in his eyes. She couldn’t help but notice the way he subconsciously pulled the paper closer to him.

“Oh, I thought I smelled something burning,” Zee teased, grinning impishly at him. Judging by the way his frown deepened in confusion, Jason didn’t even seem to _get_ the joke. She couldn’t help but exasperatedly huff, before dropping the matter. “Penny for your thoughts?” she instead asked.

Jason opened his mouth ever so slightly, before frowning, a conflicted look on his face. After a moment, he shut it and hesitantly shook his head. Most of the tension bled out of his body, and he was obviously unsure about something.

“Well, I’m here if you’d like a sympathetic ear,” Zee soothingly murmured, giving him an encouraging smile. After a moment of maintaining eye contact, she dismissively turned back to her book.

Good, now hopefully the seed had been planted in his mind, that she was here if he’d like some advice. One exasperating thing about Jason was that he tended to believe he had to do everything by himself. He was probably so used to having to be self-reliant over the centuries, that he forgot that he wasn’t alone anymore in the world. That if he ever needed assistance, there were dozens of people he could easily call upon. Yet he rarely did, seeming somewhat content to suffer in silence, probably more out of force of habit more than anything.

She kept on reading, ignoring the way she could feel Jason repeatedly glancing at her. This part was going to require a little bit of patience on her part. One thing that everyone forgot was that _everything_ Jason did was slowly and methodically thought out whenever possible. He wasn’t the type that made rash decisions unless it was an emergency. And even _then,_ he tended to take his time weighing his options, much to the frustration of most people that had come to him needing his immediate help.

After what felt like an eternity, although she’d timed it at only being about 5 minutes, Jason finally spoke. “I… I need some advice,” he hesitantly murmured, seeming almost embarrassed to even be asking for help.

Zee looked up and smiled brightly at him, trying to put him at ease. “Shoot!” she cheerfully exclaimed, placing a bookmark in her book and setting it aside. She took her feet off the table and properly sat up in her chair, resting her folded hands on the table. She wanted to make sure he knew that he had her full attention.

“It’s Klarion,” he bitterly stated, misery etched deep into every fiber of his being.

“What now?” Zee curiously asked, sympathetically wincing.

She’d always pitied Jason, at having to deal with the witch-boy. At the various tales she’d heard over the years, it made her utterly grateful that Klarion hadn’t decided to choose _her_ as his ‘aunt’. Honestly, she didn’t know how Jason and Etrigan hadn’t straight-up _murdered_ Klarion years ago over his various schemes. Well, she was pretty sure it wasn’t from a lack of trying on Etrigan’s part. Jason must have the patience of a saint (and wasn’t _that_ ironic) to have to deal with a Lord of Chaos who seemed hellbent on making his life miserable.

“He hasn’t done anything,” Jason tiredly got out, before quietly muttering, “at least, not that _I’m_ aware of.” Zee couldn’t help but snort in amusement at that, causing a smile to briefly flash across his face. “He’s living in the Gotham sewers.”

“What?” Zee got out after a moment, startled. At least she wasn’t alone, most everyone in the room was discretely staring at Jason. Well, except for Bruce, who had stiffened at Jason’s words, a slightly guilty look on his face. Considering it was Gotham, it was no wonder Bruce knew about it. If anything, Bruce had probably been the one who’d _informed_ Jason about this.

Jason slumped in his chair, rubbing at his temples. “He’s fucking living in the bloody sewers,” he lowly groaned, exhaustion radiating off of him. “Set up a cozy little hole in the wall for himself. Haven’t _physically_ been there myself, for _obvious_ reasons. But it’s not that bad looking, all things considering.”

“Then what’s the problem?” Zee hesitantly inquired, not sure what Jason was so concerned about. Sure, the sewers weren’t _exactly_ the ideal home, but she was pretty sure Klarion could take care of himself just fine. After all, he’d been doing so for years without much of any help from others.

Jason stared at her with a horrified look on his face. “He’s _just_ a kid, he shouldn’t be living in the goddamn sewers,” he unexpectedly burst out.

Zee blinked in surprise, slightly taken aback. She couldn’t recall the last time she’d seen Jason this passionate about something.

‘Just a kid?’ she couldn’t help but skeptically think to herself. Just because Klarion _looked_ like one, didn’t mean he _was_ one. Well, he tended to act very childishly. He was immature and impulsive, with an extremely short attention span. When he didn’t get his way, he’d typically throw a massive temper tantrum. He enjoyed pulling ‘pranks’ and creating chaos, like that whole age swap incident. And he… ok, so Jason _kinda_ had a point there, in that Klarion was _basically_ a kid. Perhaps he _did_ have reason to be worried.

“So, what are you going to do about it?” she rhetorically asked once she managed to recompose himself.

Jason lowly sighed, his outrage bleeding away into something troubled. “I… I don’t know,” he got out after a moment, pensively staring down at his paper. “But I can’t justify to myself doing _nothing_ while he’s living in conditions like that, even if he _is_ my enemy.”

Zee pursed her lips, and she couldn’t help but wonder if Jason had _finally_ lost it, at being _this_ concerned over someone who’d _repeatedly_ tried to _kill_ him. Maybe she should have someone make sure that Jason wasn’t under the influence of anything. She started scanning the room, trying to find someone to check for her, before noticing Nabu leaning against a wall almost directly behind Jason. She made eye contact with him, before slightly jerking his head at Jason, mouthing ‘check him out’. To her relief, Nabu nodded in agreement, a spark of something curious coming from deep within his helmet.

In order to keep Jason distracted, she decided to play along with this insane line of thoughts. “You’re right,” Zee hesitantly said after a moment, not sure if she was entirely in agreement. “Nobody should feel like they have no other choice but to live in the sewers.” Her lips curled upwards in amusement as a thought came to mind. “Well, unless you’re Killer Croc, then for everyone’s sake it would be greatly appreciated,” she quipped. To her disappointment, Jason didn’t even crack a smile at her joke. Not that he normally did, but she could still hope that one day he eventually might.

“I assume he’d refuse any help coming from you on the principle of the matter?” she asked, despite knowing the answer to that question. She sure as hell wouldn’t accept _charity_ from one of her enemies if she were in a tough spot with her personal life. In fact, she would be incredibly mortified that they knew _and_ pitied her enough to offer in the first place.

Jason started absentmindedly tapping his pencil on the table, seeming pensive. “Probably. I know _I_ would,” he muttered.

Zee narrowed her eyes at that, before squinting at Nabu. He had moved so that he was partially hidden behind someone, obviously to provide cover so that his discrete hand waving wouldn’t be noticed. “What about from others?”

“Others?” Jason echoed, seeming confused.

“Those he’s worked with in the past. He _might_ be a little more willing to accept aid from them,” Zee clarified. She frowned, trying to think of anyone who’d Klarion had teamed up with before. Unfortunately, he tended to work solo, his only steady companion being Teekl. There was only one group she could come up with, which presented a whole new set of problems. “Any idea if he keeps in contact with any members of The Light?”

“I don’t know.” Jason slumped in his chair with a grimace. “But I can’t exactly go about asking the former leaders for help.”

Zee couldn’t help but humorlessly smile at that. “You mean on account of them either being your former/current enemies, or people you’ve never even met before?” she wryly asked, quirking an eyebrow at him.

“Yeah. That,” Jason tiredly stated.

Feeling someone staring at her, she casually glanced over at Nabu. His helmet shook ever so slightly, and she could practically feel the confusion radiating off of him.

“Well, it was worth a shot,” she apologetically got out.

“No, no. That’s a good idea,” Jason immediately shook his head, seeming thoughtful. “I might be able to work something out with one of them.” He started scribbling down on the paper with renewed vigor, muttering to himself again.

Sensing that her work here was done, Zee opened her book back up and started reading. “Hey, Zee?” Jason called out, pausing in his writing.

“Yeah?” Zee curiously replied, placing the bookmark back in the book,

Jason looked up from the paper after a moment. “Thanks for the advice. Really appreciate it,” he gruffly got out, a grateful gleam in his eyes.

“Not a problem!” She smiled widely at Jason. “That’s what your friendly neighborhood magician is here for.”

Jason quietly chuckled at that, before he went back to writing. She went back to reading as she patiently waited, wanting to make sure that Jason had fully re-immersed himself in his writing. After a few minutes had passed by, she stood up and casually walked away, trying not to make any sudden movements to attract Jason’s attention.

Once she was out of his eyesight, she quickly made her way over to Nabu. “He’s clean for curses and magical artifacts,” Nabu detachedly whispered once she leaned close to him.

Zee had to fight back a scowl at that. “Damn it,” she muttered to herself. There went _that_ theory. Perhaps someone had gotten into his mind. And if she had to take a guess, that someone was Etrigan. Knowing him, he’d probably gotten bored and decided to mess around with Jason’s head like he’d done repeatedly in the past. Unfortunately, finding a way to discretely check out Jason’s mind without him noticing was going to be a lot harder to pull off.

“You really think he’s _actually_ going to help him out?” Bruce suddenly asked in a hushed tone. Zee jumped about a foot in the air, somehow not having noticed him sneaking up on them. Then again, that was typical Batman behavior, and she was convinced that Bruce got his kicks out of scaring the crap out of people.

“Dunno,” Zee quietly replied with a shrug once her heart rate went back to normal. “He might just.” Despite what Jason clearly tended to believe about himself, deep down he really _was_ a good person. After all, not many would even _think_ about trying to help out one of their worst enemies. Even if said enemy would never even _consider_ doing the same if the roles were reversed.

Zee let out a sigh as she went back to observing Jason. He never ceased to surprise her, she couldn’t help but exasperatedly think, fondly shaking her head.

**Author's Note:**

> This is a reference to Superman/Batman Sorcerer Kings (Superman/Batman Vol 1 Issues #81-#84), in which Batman needs Klarion's help, so he goes down to the sewers to where Klarion is living.
> 
> There might be another chapter coming up. I say _might_ in the loosest of terms, since I've barely gotten anything written up yet for it, and I don't exactly know what direction I want to take it in. I was thinking of showing Jason consulting a member of the Light to ask for their help, from said member's perspective. For now, I'm just going to post this as a single chapter fic, since it's strong enough on its own. If I ever get around to writing any more, I'll just add another chapter to it.


End file.
